CHALLENGING SEASONS OF LIFE

Life is all about seasons. In fact, the planet we live on has four main seasons doesn’t it? There are also seasons of human activity. There are relational, physical, spiritual and emotional seasons of life. The same is true in your life. You go through various seasons in order to mature and grow. Some seasons are more challenging than others, and some seasons are more rewarding than others. I want to point out to you five general facts about the seasons of life. These insights can help us navigate our seasons with a greater sense of purpose.

FIVE FACTS ABOUT THE SEASONS OF LIFE

1. They are beyond my control. You can’t control when they happen, how long they happen or where they happen. Most seasons begin with an irritation, an interruption or an inconvenience. When you enter a new season, your neat little schedule gets thrown out the door. We are rolling along in life, and then life as we know it, is interrupted. Whatever is going on, remember it’s only for a season.

2. The seasons of life are often confusing. Sometimes you’re in situations and you think, “Why is this happening to me? I don’t understand it.” Understanding usually follows an experience rather than precedes it. We don’t usually understand it while we’re in the situation. Looking ahead you don’t know what’s going to happen. Looking back, you know everything that has happened and it gives you perspective. So seasons can be confusing.

3. There is a purpose for every season of your life. The lonely seasons, the sad seasons, the seasons of success, the seasons of waiting, the seasons of grief and so on. Each has it’s purpose and is preparing us for the next season. While we don’t always know the purpose of the season while it is happening, the next season often brings to light how we’ve learned and grown through the previous season. Once that happens, we come to realize that there is a purpose for every season.

4. The seasons of life include both good and bad times. Life is full of contrasts. We go through mountains and we go through valleys. We go through successes and we go through failures. We have wins and we have losses in our life.

In the weather, there are four seasons. But in your life there are dozens of different seasons. One writer states: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”

Life is a combination of contrasting seasons. Each of these experiences can ultimately add meaning and purpose and value to your life if you let them.

5. What I sow, in one season, I will reap in another season. Every farmer knows this. You plant in the spring and you harvest in the fall. You don’t plant in the spring and immediately the next day you harvest. We want it to happen that way but it doesn’t. Because you plant a seed in one season and you always harvest in another. The way you respond right now is definitely going to affect your future. If you respond correctly in a challenging season of life and if you do the right thing, even when you don’t feel like it, it pays great dividends in the future.

“If you can’t fly, then run, if you can’t run, then walk, if you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” Martin Luther King, Jr.